No Small Part - Steve Chenault

No small part of the games I’ve run over the years spills itself into the design work I do on Castles & Crusades, Aihrde, and the monsters I put together. Demons and devils have always been my favorite. I have long since broken them free of any real world connotations, landing them squarely in either a generic game context or, more often than not, an Aihrde-centric mythos.

Orcus is a great example of the first. I have never used Orcus at the table very much. I could not tell you why; no particular reason. I preferred others like Amon, who just had “that” feel about them I suppose. But in writing the entry for Codex of the Planes (should be out in 2026) for the Abyss, I spent some time on Orcus, marrying up that content with what I was fleshing out in the Codex Infernum (out now). That was a lot of fun and in my mind, Orcus was suddenly anchored to the Unclad Pate in the Glass Tower. I could feel him there, sitting upon his throne, laughing without mercy or humor.

For the second, Mephistopheles offers himself up as another great example. Some years back I ran a high level party into Aihrde’s Wretched Plains. These are a little different than what one might think, as they are really just
one big plain with varied terrain. Tartarus is in the Wretched Plains, but consists of a different terrain than, say, Pandemonium. I leaned heavily on my reading of Michael Moorcocks Corum and Elric series and the stark borders that he always describes between realms: suddenly you are here. Then there. It’s wonderful mind jumping, and lodges the concept in your mind that there is something more to this or that place than the terrestrial feel of earth and water. So it was that the party came to a Lake of Fire that surrounded a Mountain of Glass. They had to cross the lake to find a particular morsel of information (I believe they were looking for a lost soul). But when they crossed these obstacles, they came upon massive, gilded halls: the Hall of Merriment. They assumed it was a dungeon complex but it turned out to be the table and board of Mephistopheles. The devil welcomed them at his table, so long as they did two things: they ate what was put in front of them, and they discussed with him the current events of their day and age. What followed was a massive several hour long role playing session that we all enjoyed. And this image of Mephistopheles.

We only just released the Codex Infernum and it is beyond the pale in what we’d hoped for, the art, much of it by Zoe DeVos is breathtaking. As with the particular demon genteel persona.

Check out the new Codex Infernum and Codex Exaltum!

Tiny Pebbles - Steve Chenault

There was a momentary euphoric feeling as I flew. I remember the board beneath me, at a dead stop. I can see the pavement too, cavorting in unnatural angles. The pavement swirled through my vision, then grass. I couldn't find the sky as my face closed with the earth and my feet dashed heavenward. Impact. The pavement bends me as my face grinds to a stop, but my torso still has a few inches left to ride.  Sliding, rolling, pin points of pain as the asphalt breaks away in small pieces sticking to me and pieces of me to it. 

By the time inertia took over, I lay a jumbled heap of limbs and tube socks. I remember the grass more than the sky, so I must have been on my face.

I limped back home. Half carrying, half riding the dinged-up penny board. Scraped and scratched, cursing tiny pebbles.

That would have been about 1978 and the world was a wild and wonderful place. We were living at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and my dad had just taken command of some aviation unit with the 101st (Air Mobile or Airborne, I can't remember what they were in those long ago days). The Cold War was on. New York seemed to be perpetually falling into blackouts. Disco was storming the coastal cities. Movies were a crazed mix of weird camera angles and psychedelic colors. Comic books were not yet the sole purview of the elite, and I had just picked up Green Lantern/Green Arrow 95. I dove into all things DC (and pavement, evidently), but latched onto Mike Grell's Warlord and a few others. Star Wars was out, sinking its talons into all things. And a little game called Dungeons & Dragons was beginning to get its stride.

Davis and I had been playing D&D for some few years. It was quickly becoming a passion of ours though it was just another game in the small pile of SPI and Avalon Hill games that Davis had either bought or found under the Christmas tree. I remember my first character was Tarzan. He had 7 companions, all named after the apes in Tarzan's band. I had been reading Tarzan since I was knee high to a jumping frog and devoured all things about the legendary Ape Man that I could.

I don't remember much about those early adventures. Snippets really. A vorpal blade. Some character burning on an X, tree of woe type thing. I remember Dwarven Glory by Wee Warriors and other crazed adventures. I shot Arioch with a machine gun. In those days the game was a contest of survival, not in the 'this is too hard' type of thing, but in that it was more of a wargame and in war you either lose or you win. For me it was a little different. It was about the glory.

I played my characters then even as I do now. I'm not worried about figuring things out, or finding the treasure, or marking up my characters. What I devoured in print, reflected how I played on paper. In every comic the Warlord was always on the attack. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, had only ONE pre-requisite: he was fearless. And Tarzan. What's to say about Tarzan? He is the primeval will personified in literature. More so than Conan, or any other, Tarzan is a beast first. One of the Great Apes.  He was written by Burroughs to have human morality as a second tier benchmark at best. 

So I played my characters in those early days. In the wild blacked-out, disco-fueled, Blondie-filled days of the 1970s when the world seemed reckless and everything was possible. I played my characters that way and they died that way. Countless characters. Fallen in the quest for glory, soon replaced by another character equally charged.

That didn't change, even when later in '78 Davis picked up the AD&D Players Handbook. I don't know where he got it or why. I was with him when he bought the Monster Manual, but he got the PHB on his own. I do remember seeing it for the first time.

He was VERY excited, probably 13 years old. I was leaning over a bed, knees in the shag carpet, scribbling on my note paper. He handed me the book. Whatever he said is lost to time, other than something like "before we play again, you have to read this book."

I took the book. The red idol, lizard man, the warriors. Soaking it all in. I thumbed through it for a minute or so. "I'm not reading that." I gave it back to him and went back to scribbling on my character.

We were playing in a few minutes and no doubt my character was soon euphorically tumbling down some chasm in a mad fight with some epic monster he never stood a chance against. 

Those tiny pebbles.

Free Map! + Codex of Aihrde Expansions

Greetings from the Troll Dens,

We wanted to share an exciting development regarding our Aihrde: After Winter Dark campaign setting. We have been steadily working on our Codex of Aihrde Expansions: a series of setting expansion books that dive deeper into each of Aihrde's locales. These books offer adventure hooks, the detailed history of each region formatted usefully as it pertains to worldbuilding and adventure writing, terrain descriptions, and much more. 

We are extremely proud of Aihrde, as this campaign setting served as one of the founding cornerstones of Troll Lord Games (anyone remember that first Gen Con trip back in 2000?). That's why we're so excited to show you this updated map of Aihrde's many regions, all of which have either received their own expansion book or will soon. Here it is:

Additionally, we're excited to offer a free, updated PDF version of the Lands of Ursal Map from the Codex of Aihrde. This will be an ongoing process over the course of the next year; with each new expansion book Steve writes, we'll be making additions and adjustments to the Lands of Ursal map. Once an expansion is complete, we'll update the map accordingly and upload the latest version to the store where you can download it for free. This cycle will continue for about a year as the world of Aihrde continues to grow.

Please note, this update only applies to the free downloadable map—the printed map within the Codex of Aihrde itself will only be updated once all the expansion books are complete. We love printing maps of Aihrde, but not enough to print a million different versions as all the expansion books are being completed 😂 Just know you'll always be able to download the most recent version for free in our store!

As always, thank you all for your support of Aihrde and our efforts over the past 26 years. If you're interested in the Aihrde campaign setting, do check out the Codex of Aihrde or any of our current expansion books. Live readings of the Codex of Aihrde and other Aihrdian ficiton take place every Wednesday at 7pm CST.

All the best,

The Troll Lords

The Factory: Postponed, But Still Coming

Greetings from the Dens!

You may have noticed our silence on this campaign; we’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes, much of it out of our control. But long story short, we were set to begin building. We hooked the camera up and watched as the first equipment was unloaded. About then things came to a halt as the permitting process ran into some snags. Several weeks of back and forth saw an increase in the overall price of the project amounting to about $30,000 (which means $45,000 by the time it is done), and that put us uncomfortably over a threshold I had imposed on the build cost ($350,000).  Coupled with all the new equipment costs we’ve taken on, it raised some serious red flags.

After giving it a great deal of thought, I decided to shut the current build down. I do not feel TLG can risk the companies’ finances when we have so many commitments to the wider gaming community (Castle Zagyg, Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds, and the Adventurers Backpack, and Barsoom, for instance).  The current build is shut down, and this campaign will follow in the next few days. I do not want to take any pledged funds and end up sitting on them for what could be a week or a year. 

So where does that leave us? We are back to square one with a great deal of experience in our pockets and have a better understanding of the lay of the land. We have put the Beebe land up for sale and are currently looking for another yard to play in. Hopefully it won’t take long, though things are hopping here in Arkansas. Everyone and their dog has decided to move here! Ha, it a beautiful state.

As we are not in any way shape or form giving up the idea of getting the names of supporters installed into our new build, we have set up a new sign up page. If you are interested in a future commitment, just hop over and join the list. We won’t be emailing you or contacting you unless we have land and have begun the build or bought a building. You can find that page here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/3e1af271-336e-413b-8d10-e7ccbbf907df/landing

We wish to offer a hobbit-style thank you for the support and help you have already shown. We are only at the beginning of this adventure and a little setback is nothing more than a chance to catch one’s breath.

Thank you ALL!! Trollzah!!

Steve Chenault

CEO

Troll Lord Games

An Important Update re: The TLG Factory

Greetings from the Troll Dens,

We have some interesting news. A little bit of a setback, but nothing the trolls aren’t used to.

As many of you know, particularly those backing this campaign, Troll Lord Games purchased a 5-acre plot last spring and have been working toward building our print facility and warehouse there. Once purchased, we set about designing two buildings and then began the financing process. Expecting about a 30 day turn around, we were all keyed up to go forward. Of course, the bank took a month’s worth of Sundays to get the loan worked up, but after a long wait and a small mountain of cash for closing on the loan, we were good to go. 

Last week we installed the webcam and live streamed from the site of the build for a half hour. Those who tuned in could see a dozer sitting there ready to begin scrapping.

Enter the city planning commission. Turns out they updated the building codes back in June, unbeknownst to me or the contractor. Suddenly our building was illegal and we were denied a permit. The changes the city required were not to my liking nor to the betterment of the building. Even if they were, our bank loan was tied to a specific build and would not apply to a new build; we would have to begin that lengthy process all over again.

With that we were left with a choice. Change the building design to meet the new regulations, increase cost significantly, loose the loan, and start all over again; or sell the land and move the project.

I have opted for the latter. If we are lucky, we can sell the original 5 acres for more than we paid and use that money toward the build. But what this means is that we are going to be delayed a spell until we find a new spot. Hopefully that doesn’t take very long.

Where does that leave your pledge? Nothing changes. We are going forward with the build regardless; it’s just delayed again. We have asked Backerkit to extend the campaign so that you are not charged in a few weeks during this time of crazy turmoil. To no one’s surprise here, they have generously done so; we are incredibly grateful for support of Backerkit’s team.

This journey has been one wild ride, and both I personally and the trolls in general have encountered a host of new challenges, problems, and twists and turns. It’s like we are actually playing Paper and Landscapes, a game of building in the modern world! 

I’m glad you all are along for the ride though! Never worry! We’ll get there. The trolls always do.

State of the Trolls, April '25

Made in U.S.A., International Trade, Tariffs

With all the recent news about tariffs and trade wars, and the potential damage spreading through our community, coupled with the host of curious and angry comments online I thought it is a good time to put out some kind of public statement concerning Troll Lord Games and the manifold projects we have in the hopper. I’ll try not to ramble, but as I’m listening to Kassi Valazza’s Dear Dead Days album at the moment I’m going to be prone to go a little western and let my pony lead the way. Bear with me to the end. There’s some big news down that a-way. 

Short Answer

We make our products here in the United States and have for decades. The current uncertainty, much like the Covid Pandemic, will have very little impact on our pricing. I do not anticipate any price increases. I do not anticipate a delay in output. We will not have any difficulty fulfilling any crowdfunding campaigns, direct to consumer orders, distributor orders, Amazon, or other orders. The only negative impact I can see is a delay in print time from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. This last will be the result of publishers shifting their printing from overseas to U.S. based printers, causing a log jam.

A Note to my Fellow Publishers: If you have any questions or would like some assistance in contacting U.S. based printers, please give me a shout, I’ll steer you as best I can. I have many contacts and an occasional solution. 

There are two reasons TLG can navigate this crisis. The first is that we have long manufactured all our primary product here in the United States (except for a brief stint in beautiful Canada in 2000-2003) and second because we own our own print shop, which is also here in the United States. That might be only one reason with an addendum instead of two reasons. Regardless, you get the idea.

 

First: Manufacturing in the United States

Early on in our company’s history, not long after I took over the helm, we shifted to U.S. based printers. Before that we used several printers in Canada. There were several reasons we shifted south of the border, and they ranged from the technical to the patriotic. Nafta was all the rage in those days and there were constant discussions about cross border trade. Borrowing from history and wanting to support local communities, we shifted our printing south and it has remained there ever since. I watched over the years as U.S. based game companies and publishers shifted their printing to far flung shores. We never did. The uncertainty bred by such relationships can be problematic. Once our production shifted to the U.S. it remained there. It remains there still.

 

Our books, game boxes, game screens, slip cases and cards are manufactured here in the U.S. The paper is sourced locally; the board and chip and headbands are all sourced locally. We frequently inquire with our suppliers and printers to find out where the materials are sourced, just to make sure that they are made in the U.S. This removes a whole level of uncertainty from the equation.

 

We’ve managed to keep a very high quality in our books as well. They are all Smythe Sewn, with tight back binding where the block signatures are sewn to the headband and the headband blued to the spine board. The end sheets are glued in giving the book even more support. All this is manageable with U.S. based printers.

Sidenote: I remember when the pandemic hit and so many companies suffered a collapse of the supply chain. TLG didn’t feel it at all. My main hardback printer is a 4 hour drive from our warehouse. Push to shove, we’d have loaded up trucks and gone to get it. We’ve done it before and that was one wild ride.

 

We have printed here for years. Only a very few items stand out as exceptions. 

 

· Dice. As soon as Lou Zocchi closed shop we had to order dice from overseas. Before that most of our dice were made by him. Wonderful little dice. We even sold a crayon with them. We did buy some from Crystal Caste, great folks over there, but I’m not sure where they were made. More on this later.

 

· Merchandise. Early on some of our merchandise was made overseas. Things like journals, glass mugs, etc. 

We will continue to use U.S. based printers for our hardcover books, boxes, and screens.

Note: Our main U.S. printer is in Missouri but we use printers in Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and now Ohio.

 

Second: Our Print Shop

Back in 2005, my younger brother Davis Chenault –wandering in from the wilds as he was a working archeologist at the time– listened to me ranting about the cost of a rush print job (it was Temple of Kubla Khan by the esteemed writer Casey Christofferson that I needed for a con out west) and said something to the affect: “You know what you should do? You should build us a print shop and we should print our own books!” 

Of his many ideas that one proved one of the most fortuitous. It was not easy to do. Todd, Davis and I had no experience in such things. But over the next many  months we put the shop together. We struggled with it like crazy, learning the new trade, and it really wasn’t fully functional until late ’07/early ‘08. Even partially functional it quickly became a central part of our publishing endeavor. It has remained so for almost 20 years. The print shop is home to a large printer, 1954 champion paper cutter (it never quits), a perfect binder (we are on our third) and all the other manifold things one needs to make a book without a mess.

 

In our own print shop we manufacture all our soft covers. We did, for many years, manufacture all our own hard case screens and even manufactured our own hard cover books for a short time (this latter suffered too many problems and we abandoned it). Having this control over the line proved a godsend and saved the company more than once in the many ups and downs over the years.

 

All the contents of our books are sourced locally as well.. We use a local paper company (not Dunder Mifflin, but sort of), a local printer servicing company, and some suppliers up in Michigan for all our materials.

These two things have kept TLG secure from the uncertainty of international markets. And now, with the second giant upset in five years, Covid being the first, we are happier than ever that we made this move.

 

Cost of “Too Expensive”?

I’ve never been price shocked by pricing here in the United States. It is higher than overseas for sure, but the cost benefit for me was never close. The uncertainty of shipping, markets, my desire to support local businesses and communities, reduction of my footprint on the environment, and a host of other reasons make it worthwhile. And besides, crowdfunding campaigns mean that TLG is selling far more units direct to consumer, and avoiding distributor discounts. That has more than made up for the slightly higher price we pay for printing here at TLG.

 

Sidenote: Just so that you know it, when you spend your hard earned money here at TLG, it goes into our coffers. That money then goes into local businesses here in Little Rock, Arkansas (we are one of the largest clients of two businesses here), but it also flows north to Missouri, into businesses there, paying salaries and retirement to people there. Additionally, it flows to New Jersey, Michigan, Colorado. Know that when you spend money here, your money is going back out into your local communities.

 

Practices

Every business, every publisher, has to make a decision about what is best for their business. I read a great deal of history and I am well aware of how fast situations can change, and how dangerous it is to work with outside players. If you don’t believe that, just read up on the pandemic. I am also keenly aware that it is important for us to support our local communities. Wherever you are in the world, one should support their local communities first. This isn’t just a feel good philosophy. And though there are personal and patriotic reason we manufacture stateside, there are very sound business reasons we chose this path:

 

· It is good for your business as it creates personal relationships (I’ve been with the same sales rep for hardcover books for over 20 years), and that comes in handy more often than you could imagine. 

 

· It is good because it protects the environment. It cuts down on trans-oceanic shipping, makes certain that the goods you are having manufactured are done so in a safe and clean manner. That waste is properly handled.

 

· It is good for labor. The people who make your products are being compensated fairly and properly for their labor.

 

· It is good for the local community as it pumps revenue into secondary businesses, restaurants, gas stations and so on.

 

· Manufacturing locally (and for me this is has always been a huge one) reduces the economic uncertainty created by an unstable world. This was brought home with a vengeance during the Covid Pandemic. It is reinforced now. That’s twice in 5 years. That is more than enough to destroy companies.

 

Going Forward & the Exciting News

To this end TLG is committed to expanding our print shop operations. This week, on the 14^th of April, 2025, at about 12:30 pm, I drove up to Lowes to meet my real estate agent and give him a check. That check is for the deposit on acreage here in central Arkansas that TLG has just purchased. The plan is to greatly expand our printing ability.

 

That acreage will be home to our new manufacturing facility . . . “The Factory” as I’m going to call it. The plan is to build, over the next six months, a 4,000 square foot print facility and warehouse. To that end:

 

· We are negotiating for larger printing equipment, which should double the output we get from our current equipment. 

· Bringing back hard case game master screen manufacturing.

· Expand our warehousing capability threefold in order to order larger quantities of paper, reducing cost.

· Create a ready-made platform to help publishers get their books printed in the Factory or their products shifted to other printers who can manage it.

· Create a space to experiment with mold injection equipment and see into making little cubes.

 

With luck and a whole lot of hard work we’ll make The Factory operational before the end of the Summer. If we can make this work, and there many a slip between cup and lip, trust that we’ll have plenty of room to expand and maybe, just maybe, we are going to tackle this m----- f------ dice problem.

 

A Message to the Community

It is possible to manufacture in the United States. It isn’t as easy as it used to be, but it is possible. We work with several box makers that make our game boxes. Printers that do our hardcovers. You’ll need to find die cutters and do a lot of home assembly. I cannot count the number of times that TLG employees have gathered at my house around my game table and assembled boxes and all their contents, even shrink wrapping them. It isn’t easy. It’s a move away from the one stop shop that some have become used to, but it is doable. We did the board game Planet Busters in the United States some years back. All the components made in the U.S. and compiled in our basement.

It might not look as pretty as it does coming off the assembly line in distant lands, but it is doable. Dice and game pieces will be the real challenge.

If there is anything I or TLG can do, if you just need someone to vent, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we can work together to getting you a solution.

Now back to work. The Factory brooks no delay.